Author's Note: Sorry for not posting a chapter last week. Last Sunday—my only free day to write—I got sick and couldn't make any progress. Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
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"Hatsume, did you hear me?!" I shouted into the communicator, but the only response was a harsh crackle, endless static biting at my ears.
I clenched my teeth, trying to stabilize the signal. I toggled the visor controls, reconfigured the frequency, even tried to link with the police channel… nothing. Either I was too far away, or the villain who cut the communications had just expanded the range of his interference.
I couldn't be sure if Mei had actually heard me.
"Hey…" Jirou's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You had a communicator this whole time? Why didn't you use it earlier? Aizawa asked Thirteen to contact the school and nothing worked! That was the moment!"
Her tone wasn't just surprised—it was accusing.
I stayed quiet for a second, weighing my response. Momo was watching me too, but her look was different: no judgment in her eyes, just expectation. She wanted to hear a reason.
I let out a slow breath and forced my best performance.
"I didn't want the villains to realize we managed to connect with the school. You heard them—they're after All Might. And even though I don't think they can beat him… they're too confident. Whatever they planned, it's designed to hit him directly. Even with Aizawa-sensei here, I doubt he can handle what they brought for All Might."
Jirou stared at me, lips pressed tight, disbelief all over her face. I continued."It's better if they think they have the upper hand. If they notice we called for backup too soon, they'll unleash their trump card… and then we're finished."
I lifted my visor slightly, tapping the metallic edges."Besides, this communicator is just a prototype I was working on. I linked it to another unit I left in the Support Course workshop. I don't even know if Hatsume actually heard me."
"Hatsume?" Momo repeated, tilting her head.
"She's… a classmate from the Support Course," I explained quickly, aware neither of them knew her.
No time for more words.
The cracks in the ground filled with fast-moving shadows, circling us into a tightening half-moon. They were low-level villains, the kind of cannon fodder Shigaraki had brought just to wear us down.
"They found us…" I muttered, my voice dropping instinctively.
Momo reacted instantly. She pressed a steady hand against her abdomen, focusing. A faint glow spread across her skin and, within seconds, she materialized a long metal staff. With a firm motion, she handed it to Jirou.
"It's not much, but it'll keep them at a distance," she said, her tone calm but her eyes tense.
Jirou grabbed it without hesitation, spinning it a couple of times in her hands to test the weight."This'll do," she replied, though the stiffness in her jaw betrayed her nerves.
I frowned, lowering my head slightly as I assessed the situation. Without Kaminari here, I couldn't let Momo and Jirou shoulder the whole fight alone. It was obvious—I had to fill that gap.
"Well then…" I muttered, adjusting the visor until the drones projected a rough map of the area. "Guess it's time to test these upgrades in a real field."
I flexed my fingers inside the Shocker gloves. Energy pulsed, running through the inner coils until the air around my hands crackled with a faint blue glow. A vibrating current shot through my arms, like the electricity wanted to tear me apart from the inside.
From the cracks, the villains began to emerge. Six, seven… no, eight. Faces carved with scars, improvised weapons, predatory grins. One swung a rusty chain that clattered with every step; another, his skin covered in hardened plates, leaned forward like a bull ready to charge.
"They're just high school kids…" one sneered, lifting a jagged pipe. "This'll be fun."
"Scared, brats?" another growled, his face like a bear's, yellowed fangs dripping with spit at the corner of his mouth.
The rest burst out laughing. Harsh, raspy voices dripping with that twisted confidence only people who think they're toying with their prey can have.
I watched them in silence. Many showed obvious mutations: twisted claws, skin hardened like stone, eyes drifting apart and moving independently. These were the quirks that twisted people, the kind that made someone more monster than human.
And for a moment, I couldn't help but think:
How lucky I am not to have been born with a quirk.
The thought of carrying a useless don… one that only served to deform me, like having a face shaped like a spray can lid or arms turned into brittle branches… just imagining it was enough to make me grateful for my condition. Being born with nothing was better than living cursed from the cradle.
I shook my head. No time to drift off.
The villains took another step forward, confident in their numbers.I pressed my hands together, aligning the Shocker gloves. The inner coils vibrated in unison, humming like an angry swarm.
The blast was brutal.
A shockwave ripped through the air with a deafening roar. A blue flash lit up the scene, followed by a sharp crack that scorched the atmosphere. The recoil forced me to drag my feet across the dirt, but it was worth it. Three villains were hurled against the rock walls, leaving cracks where they hit. Two more tumbled across the ground, convulsing as their weapons clattered uselessly beside them.
For a second, silence reigned. Then a shout tore through it:
"Don't just stand there, attack!"
The rest charged like a rabid pack. Of course, all of them aimed for me.
To be honest, I couldn't even remember how this part played out in the "original script." The only thing I knew was that, in the end, this kind of cannon fodder always got beaten down by the trainee heroes. And my situation didn't look any different.
There was no strategy. No ambushes, no coordination. Just fury and desperation. Some used their quirks, others just hurled rocks or rusty scrap at me, as if brute force could make up for the lack of brains.
But my gloves took care of everything. Quick discharges, shockwaves, bursts that dropped them like scorched ragdolls.
Momo and Jirou held back the stragglers. The cowards, thinking they'd found an easy target, rushed at them. Big mistake.Jirou jammed her jacks into the amplifiers on her boots, unleashing a deafening pulse that staggered the closest villains, forcing them to clutch their heads.Momo, meanwhile, was pure ingenuity in motion: small shields to cover angles, a short spear to keep the bold ones at bay, a blinding spray that left several stumbling in confusion.
Even so, something started to bother me.
For every ten that fell, just as many crawled out of the cracks. They weren't a real challenge… but they were draining.
The Shocker gloves had definitely improved with the latest modifications. Still, they weren't limitless. Heat was building inside the coils, the electric hum was turning more unstable, and with each discharge, an uncomfortable tingle spread through my muscles. I could endure it… for now. But not forever.
I clicked my tongue, blasting back the villain who was about to lunge at Yaoyorozu.It was time to change the plan. If I stayed buried in this endless fight against brainless waves, sooner or later the gloves would fry, leaving me surrounded.
I scanned the area quickly, looking for a way out.This zone was supposed to simulate an earthquake, right? Broken rocks, fissures, loose earth… and right ahead, a mountain of debris rising like an uneven wall.
An idea started to form.
I glanced at Momo and Jirou. They seemed to realize too that things were only getting worse by the minute.I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice so the villains couldn't overhear.
"We can't keep this up. I've got a plan… but when I give the signal, you'll have to hold on to me with everything you've got."
I didn't explain more. Couldn't risk any of those idiots catching on. I just trusted that, after the week we'd spent together, they'd believe in me without asking questions.
They exchanged a quick look. Then, almost in unison, they turned back to me and nodded.
I smiled.Good. That was enough.
I reached into my belt and pulled out several smoke bombs, small spheres the size of a fist.
I threw them to the ground.
With a sharp pof, the smoke began to spread instantly, thick and dark, swallowing the villains' line of sight. I heard them curse and cough, some crashing into each other in their desperation not to lose track of their prey.
The smoke became a dense wall, wrapping everything in a gray shroud that burned in the throat.
I groped my way toward where Momo and Jirou were; I could hear them coughing, crouched and gasping for air. They didn't have masks, of course… that little detail had almost slipped my mind.
"Now!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the confusion of the smoke.
They couldn't see me, but they heard me. In the very next instant, I felt them clutching me tightly, their arms tense as they wrapped around my neck and shoulders in desperation.
That was enough.
I flexed my fingers inside the gloves and aimed at the ground. The inner coils responded immediately, vibrating like an enraged swarm before unleashing all the energy they had built up.
The blast was brutal.
The shockwave hurled me upward, dragging Momo and Jirou along with me. The ground beneath us cracked violently, sending dirt and fragments of stone flying. For an instant, vertigo hit my stomach as we soared over the sea of smoke and the confused villains.
"Hold on tight!" I shouted above the roar of the wind.
In the air, I twisted my torso and pointed the Shocker gloves toward the mountain of debris. The inner coils vibrated, charging up, and a second blast thundered like a cannon shot.
The wave slammed into the mountain.
A deafening roar shook the entire simulation zone. Rocks and soil began to slide like an improvised avalanche, burying the villains trapped in the smoke. Their cries of surprise were quickly drowned out by the rumble of tons of debris crashing down on them.
Meanwhile, we stayed airborne, carried by the force of the recoil. I felt Jirou's and Momo's arms tighten around my neck, clinging as if their lives depended on it. (And they did.)
The wind struck my face, while the landslide still roared behind us like unending thunder. We couldn't afford to hit the ground at full speed; if we did, we'd end up in pieces.
I clenched my teeth and aimed the Shocker gloves downward again.
"Hold on tighter!" I warned.
The blast jolted through my arms. A new shockwave pushed us upward again, but this time with less force—controlled. The pressure in my chest was brutal, like the air itself was trying to crush me from the inside out, but it was working.
We didn't let gravity swallow us.
I repeated the process: another burst downward. And another. Each impulse kept us aloft a few seconds more, slowly reducing the speed of our fall. We weren't gaining much height anymore, just enough to soften the descent.
The tingling in my muscles had become a burn, and the gloves' inner coils buzzed with an unstable sound, like an engine on the verge of blowing out. Each discharge was weaker than the last.
"Come on…" I muttered, forcing my arms once more.
Another shock. Another recoil that tore the air from my lungs.
We were close now. At a safe enough height. If we fell here, we'd hit hard, but we'd survive.
I twisted my body, searching for a clear spot among the fractured terrain. Broken rocks, dust rising—but there: a flat space, as clear as we were going to get.
"Get ready!" I warned, and released the final blast.
The blast slowed us down just enough before gravity pulled us to the ground. We hit hard, rolling through dirt and rocks, but no broken bones. Just bruises, scrapes, and a dull ache all over.
I lay there for a moment on my back, gasping for breath, my arms numb. The smoke and the avalanche had done their job: behind us, the villains were buried under tons of debris.
They wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
Momo was the first to stand, coughing as she wiped the dust from her face. Jirou sat up suddenly, still clutching her staff in both hands as if afraid to let go.
"That… that was way too close," she said between breaths. But her voice wasn't reproachful—it was pure relief.
I could barely laugh.
The gloves were still smoking faintly, the coils overheated. They wouldn't survive another session like that.
I forced myself up clumsily, brushing off the dust that clung to my clothes. My arm muscles still trembled from the discharge, an electric echo reminding me just how close I'd been to frying myself along with the gloves.
Even so, I pushed my legs to move. I walked to the edge of the rise where we had landed, a block of raised earth that gave us some view toward the center of the USJ.
The smoke from the avalanche still lingered in the air, covering part of the scene, but one glance was enough to choke the breath in my throat.
There, in the heart of the chaos, Aizawa-sensei was being overwhelmed.
The Nomu had him pinned with its monstrous claws, crushing him against the ground.
Momo and Jirou came up beside me. When they saw it, their faces twisted—disbelief and fear on Jirou's; anguish and restrained desperation on Momo's.